NEWS/FOOD B OIS E W EEK LY AR C HIVES
FOOD/REVIEWS On one plate then the other ... BW sends two critics to one restaurant.
BULL’S HEAD PUB Chefs Steve Rhodes and Richard Langston at Cafe Vicino.
DINING OUT ON VALENTINE’S DAY
36 | FEBRUARY 10–16, 2010 | BOISEweekly
GLENN LANDBERG
At this late date, if you’re hoping to treat your special someone to a night off in the kitchen, you’ll be lucky to get a reservation. And with Valentine’s Day falling on a Sunday, dinner reservations could be particularly difficult to come by since many of Boise’s most popular eateries take a day of rest on Sunday. But you may get lucky. With a table, that is. Berryhill and Co. offers two options on Valentine’s Day: brunch and dinner. Brunch is a new weekly thing at Berryhill, and the $14 buffet and well-priced mimosas could be your official dining out on the big day if you’re planning to cook up dinner—or skip dinner and head straight for dessert—at home. If dinner it is, Berryhill will be open for dinner with an a la carte menu starting at 5 p.m. Reservations are a must. Call 208-387-3553 or visit berryhillandco.com. Cozy North End Cafe Vicino, which is usually closed Sundays, will open for Valentine’s Day dinner from 5 to 9 p.m., serving from the regular menu in addition to some Valentine’s specials both Saturday and Sunday nights. Again, reservations are a must. Call 208-472-1463 or visit cafevicino.com. Cottonwood Grille will be open for dinner on Valentine’s Day, though reservation slots are quickly dwindling. If you want a spot near the fireplace, you might be out of luck at this point; you’ll be lucky just to get a table. If you miss out on a dinner reservation and you’re set on Cottonwood, don’t forget Sunday brunch at the riverside restaurant. Call 208-333-9800 or visit cottonwoodgrille. com for reservations. Also by the river but out in Eagle, Bella Aquila is open for dinner especially for Valentine’s Day. Very few time slots remain available for dinner, but in addition to Sunday brunch, Bella Aquila—as well as each of the restaurants above—is encouraging lovers to consider Friday or Saturday night. Make reservations by calling 208-938-1900 or visit bellaaquilarestaurant.com. Chandlers is taking the all-weekend Valentine’s Day celebration seriously on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights with a prix fixe menu for $40 per person. Entree choices include lamb, prime rib, scallops, sea bass, salmon and pork. And, of course, reservations are a must. Call 208-383-4300. And finally, if you want a break from the typical restaurant scene but don’t want to cook, check out the Linen Building’s Art of Love, featuring a five-course meal of aphrodisiacs courtesy of Open Table catering. The party starts at 6 p.m. Call 208-761-0042 to make a reservation or e-mail april@opentableboise.com. —Rachael Daigle
I can attest to the fact that it is possible to make your way across the Through an empty fire-station-themed restaurant, up a wide set of stairs United Kingdom and Ireland by eating nearly exclusively in pubs. In and past a bright-white art deco lamp, we stumbled upon a couple awkfact, it’s pretty much expected. wardly clasping hands in a hallway. To the steady count of “1, 2, 3, 4,” While we’re a long way from the Pond, let alone from being across they moved their feet clunkily while a dance instructor looked on. In the the Pond, the Bull’s Head Pub in Meridian is attempting to bring a little room next to the Bull’s Head Pub, our dinner destination, a wide array of that pub flavor to Idaho, albeit in a relatively new, two-story building of other couples practiced their footwork, dodging chairs and the sharp on Eagle Road rather than a centuries-old building on High Street. The corners of low bar tables at a weekly dance night. result is not quite British pub, but more casual bar. While the menu The vibe inside the pub, which is linked to the adjacent nightclub offers a smattering of traditional British pub fare, including the requisite space and the all-ages Bull’s Head Station restaurant below, was authenfish and chips and shepherd’s pie, it’s also filled with decidedly more tically pub-ish—dark lighting, scratched wooden tables and long booths American items like burgers, steaks and assorted pasta dishes. lined with brass rivets. Glancing around the room, my dinner date and On a recent I noted a peculiar evening, my dining lack of people eating. companions and Uneasy, I flagged I headed up the down the inattentive switch-backing stairs bartender and asked to the second story, for menus. where the actual Taking a swig pub is located. The off a coffee-laced entire building is a Pipeline porter ($2), bit maze-like, with I noted a handful an all-ages version on of influences on the the ground floor. Upmenu—British (Shepstairs, the pub section herd’s pie, $7.95), is relatively small, Italian (baked penne with a high-backed pasta, $12.95/$8.95 dark green bench linhalf), Asian (egg rolls, ing one wall, fronted $7.95) and Southern by sturdy tables and American (baby-back worn wooden chairs. ribs, $18.95/$14.95 Around the corner is half). While the appea game/activity area tizer menu had a few that can be home to a enticing selections— number of pastimes. champagne mushDepending on the rooms in a garlic-lemnight, one might on butter ($6.95) and wander in to a poker BULL’S HEAD PUB Red Hook-battered 1441 N. Eagle Rd., Meridian tournament or a bunch of polka-dancing seniors. shrimp ($8.95)—we were ultimately lured in by the cala208-855-5858 After a dedicating some time to our pints of Bass mari ($6.95), served, oddly, with a marinara sauce. Mon.-Fri. 4 p.m.-2 a.m.; ($2.25 on a half-price special), we dug in. I’m pretty Before we had pushed the menus aside, our calamari Sat.-Sun. 11 a.m.-2 a.m. versed in fish and chips ($11.95) and fear being served came flying out of the kitchen. As a childhood fan of hunks of fish dripping in grease. This was definitely not mozzarella sticks and an adult appreciator of calamari, I greasy. In fact, the chunks of cod were rather dry and flahad never before thought the two to be similar. But this vorless, and chewing them and their sturdy batter took more effort than dish, five long fried sticks huddling around a hot tub of marinara and necessary. The fact that they did not soak in much of the malt vinegar I classed up with a sprinkling of dried parsley, looked and tasted like a drowned them in was evidence of the dense breading. hybrid of the two. Mozzamari? Or maybe calimarella? My usual dining companion fared better with the shepherd’s pie On the main course front, inspired by our environment, we decided ($7.95). Bull’s Head has literally turned the traditional dish upside to stick with British fare, ordering the cod fish and chips ($11.95) and down, building it on a large mashed-potato volcano filled with Guinshepherd’s pie. My date’s shepherd’s pie looked savory enough—beef ness-marinated beef and covered in a gravy seasoned with a healthy shot crumbles stuffed into a mashed potato crater and ladled with a dark red of wine. The marinated beef was easily the standout of the meal, with wine gravy and a layer of cheese. But on his first bite, he noted that even that slow-cooked tenderness that puts the comfort in comfort food. The the rich gravy couldn’t mask the dryness of the beef. He also added that, addition of the wine to the gravy was a nice touch that gave an earthy sadly, he had been hoping to excavate a few customary veggies—corn, flavor to what could have been a rather bland dish. carrots, peas—but his dig came up unsuccessful. My basket of fish and Our guest diner went for what he knew, the All-American Cheesechips was equally disappointing. While the fluffy golden batter, again, burger with bacon ($8.95) accompanied by fries. While the thick patty looked inviting, the first bite revealed nothing more than bland white looked pre-formed, it was still large and juicy, and the bacon was crisp fish shrouded in a soggy sweater. The fries hanging out beneath the fish and plentiful enough to show up in every bite. Considering this diner’s were better, but not particularly memorable. To add insult to gastroonly comment was, “Hmm. Burger’s good,” we’ll consider it a success, nomic injury, when we got the check, my date’s draft Newcastle turned although his fries were only lukewarm. out to be a wince-inducing $4.50 a pint. Ouch. While the food was marginal, we appreciated the dry humor of the With our wallets $45 bucks lighter, and not much to show for it, bartender who acted as our server, keeping us entertained as well as hy- we made our way past the adjacent room—now filled with crooning drated. Bull’s Head doesn’t hit the pub theme, but it’s definitely a place karaoke-ers—down the wide flight of stairs, through the mostly empty where you can have a close and rewarding relationship with a bar stool. restaurant and into the sobering evening. —Deanna Darr thinks everything is better with a cuppa and a pint.
—Tara Morgan wants to star in the deep fried fairy-tale, Calimarella. WWW. B O I S E WE E KLY. C O M